Building on the first post of this series, we discuss in this post the subtleties of the 15 roles in a rugby team and some of the basic, yet essential, rules of the game.
The Rugby Team
A rugby team is composed of 15 players (plus 8 substitutes). All of them have a specific job depending on the number printed on the back of their jersey. It’s not necessary to understand their tasks in detail but it’s good to roughly understand what they look like and what they’re supposed to do on the field.
The 15-player squad can be split into two groups of very different players. The forwards (number 1 to 8) are usually big, strong guys who defend a lot and make sure the team keeps possession of the ball when one of their teammates is tackled. The backs (number 9 to 15) are usually smaller, faster guys who have kicking skills and who tend to score more tries, penalties and drop goals.
The forwards (also called the pack) are divided into three rows. The first row (numbers 1 to 3) is made up of the shorter, bigger and super-slow guys. The second row (numbers 4 and 5) is composed of two locks — very tall and usually slow guys. Finally, three fast and athletic guys (numbers 6 to 8) form the back row and tackle the opponents in a frenzy for 80 minutes.
The first back is the scrum-half (number 9), usually a small and sneaky player who picks the ball every time one of his teammates is tackled. The fly-half (number 10) receives the ball from his scrum-half and does the creative stuff — he’s the maestro of the offensive strategy of his team. The rest of the backs (numbers 11 to 15) are usually quite similar and run fast through the opponent’s defensive line without being tackled — this is called a line break.
Basic Rules
So far, we’ve seen what the players have to do when they’re on the field. To score points and win the match, they are supposed to run through the opponent’s camp trying not to be tackled and passing the ball to their teammates. And of course, they’re supposed to prevent the other team to do the same thing when they don’t have the ball.
“OK, but what about what they CAN’T DO?”
This is what we’re going to call minor and major fouls (or penalties).
The most famous rule of rugby is pretty straightforward: players can’t pass the ball forward — it’s not American football. If they do, the referee blows a minor foul (a knock-on or forward pass) and the ball is given to the opposing team. This is THE rule that makes rugby look so odd at first.
However, what most people tend to overlook is that players are allowed to kick the ball forward(!). In fairness, it makes sense since kicking the ball is way less accurate than passing it. For obvious reasons, a player can only kick the ball to a teammate who’s behind him when his foot hits the ball — otherwise, the referee blows a penalty for the opponent team. If this rule didn’t exist, players would roam everywhere on the field trying to receive the ball kicked by one of their teammates. Such a sport actually exists and is called Australian football.
The second most important rule of rugby is slightly more subtle but surely as important as rule #1: in most scenarios, a player can’t be ahead of his teammate who carries the ball if he interferes with the defence of the other team. This is a major foul — an offside — and the defending team is awarded a penalty if this happens.
The offside rule varies for different phases of a rugby match which aren’t open plays. Those plays are usually very confusing for rugby novices but as we’re about to see, they can be easily understood.
The bottom line is that in rugby, every player has to be behind the ball carrier — if he is from the same team. But when a player is defending (his team doesn’t have the ball), he can almost do what he wants.
That’s it for today. 15 players playing against 15 players, always passing the ball backwards (or kicking it at times). This rules the majority of the plays happening on a rugby pitch.
In the next (and final) post of this series and with one week to go the to Rugby World Cup we’ll discuss the more advanced and awkward rules of the games — the ones that make you believe that rugby was invented by an alien civilisation.
